Reading Tool: Book Walk

The first day that I begin teaching reading tools, I wear my tool belt and talk about how using just one tool for a job doesn't always work.  The same thing is true when we read.  We need many tools in our tool belt in order to solve tricky words.  (this is not a video, just a screenshot) 


I want to begin sharing the reading tools that I'm teaching the children so you can support your reader at home. Here is the first one.

1.  Book Walking a Fiction Book:  Reading the title, checking out the back cover and title page, and looking through the pictures and talking about the story BEFORE reading any of the words.

This tool is powerful.  The story will be much easier to read when the reader already has some good ideas and predictions about the story and the characters.  Thinking about what the problem might be and how it will be solved will support the reader when they get to tricky words in the text.

Eventually the pictures go away as we begin reading chapter books.  Then we need to know how to make mental images for ourselves, and I'll be teaching everyone how to do this while they are reading.  We are all growing!